(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a battery management system (BMS) connector for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a safety connector which can prevent latch-up of a BMS for managing a battery in a hybrid electric vehicle.
(b) Background Art
Generally, a hybrid electric vehicle uses an internal combustion engine and a motor using power from a battery as a source of power. Frequently, lithium batteries are used as the power source for the motor in hybrid electric vehicles. Lithium batteries can be classified into two groups, a lithium ion battery, which uses a liquid electrolyte, and a lithium polymer battery, which uses a solid polymer electrolyte.
These high-voltage batteries are typically manufactured in the form of a single module or group by connecting about 50 to 100 cells in series according to a desired capacity of the battery.
For example, a series-type hybrid vehicle, the engine acts as an energy source to rotate an electric generator to charge a battery. In this system, the electrical-generation capacity is determined according to the power consumed in a driving motor for driving the vehicle and a charging the battery. A generator control unit (GCU) is typically implemented to determine the electric-generating capacity. The GCU receives information from a motor control unit (MCU) of a battery management system (BMS) so that the electric-generating capacity can be determined.
A BMS is typically implemented in a hybrid vehicle to manage the vehicles large capacity battery system. Some portions or the entire internal circuit of the BMS may be damaged due to a simple error during assembly of components of the BMS, which results from a “latch-up” phenomenon due to surge.
“Latch-up” is a term typically used in the area of integrated circuits (ICs) to describe a particular type of short circuit which can occur in an improperly designed or damaged circuit. More specifically, a “latch-up” is an inadvertent creation of a low-impedance path between the power supply rails of, e.g., a MOSFET circuit, triggering a parasitic structure which disrupts proper functioning of the BMS, possibly even leading to destruction of the BMS due to overcurrent. Therefore, a power cycle is typically required to correct this situation.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, connectors (not shown) should be sequentially inserted into four connector insertion ports 11 provided to a connector base 10. That is, the connectors should be inserted into the four connector insertion ports 11 in the order of {circle around (1)}→{circle around (2)}→{circle around (3)}→{circle around (4)}. Accordingly, if the components are not inserted in that particular order, the components may be damaged due to a mistake that the insertion order of the connectors is changed due to worker's carelessness, etc. in assembling of the connectors.
Some techniques have been proposed as possible solutions to the above problem, (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,584, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002-0081901, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-0130420, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-0322574, etc.), however, most of these solutions involve surge protection. Therefore, it is still very difficult to prevent workers on the assembly line from incorrectly ordering the connectors.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.